Cybersecurity has quickly become a top priority for many organizations this year. This difficult time has shown us that even the largest corporations are not immune to vicious cyberattacks. Many organizations suffered breaches and lapses in security as they struggled to find the right solutions for staying connected while protecting valuable and sensitive information in the early days of remote work. As the months pass, the prospect of returning to full blown in-office operations anytime soon looks unlikely. Some companies are even looking to permanently transition to hybrid or full work-from-home structures.

Meanwhile, it has also been a very big year for data privacy, with new laws and protections being enacted, even as recently as November 3rd. On election day this year, California enacted an even tougher data privacy rule, which will make it much harder for large corporations (like Google and Facebook) to utilize user data by giving users the option to not disclose their personal data. The passing of this stricter legislation in California, along with Europe’s GDPR shows us that we’re clearly on the road to prioritizing and enforcing much stricter data privacy guidelines. As companies think about how to navigate this new landscape of privacy laws and cybersecurity threats, here are a few major trends and predictions to consider: